Six seek top job at Buchanan Schools

Superintendent hopefuls include school officials from Penn, Elkhart.

Superintendent hopefuls include school officials from Penn, Elkhart.

February 12, 2006|CAROL DRAEGER Tribune Staff Writer

BUCHANAN -- All six applicants seeking the superintendent's job in Buchanan have been or are school principals. But none has been a superintendent, said retiring Buchanan superintendent David Casey. Two area Indiana school officials are among the group vying for the top job. They are David Tydgat, principal at Penn High School and Thomas Cripliver, who is on leave from Elkhart Community Schools. Interviews are slated for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at Buchanan Middle School. The sessions are open to the public, Casey said. Tydgat will be interviewed Wednesday. Tydgat came out of retirement from the Penn-Harris-Madison School District nearly two years ago to become the principal at Penn when Jerry Sollenne retired. Tydgat, 59, is in his second year as principal of the 3,100-student high school. He has a doctorate in educational leadership from Indiana University. Cripliver will be interviewed Thursday. Last September Cripliver, principal at North Side, left Elkhart Community Schools on an unpaid leave of absence. He is expected to resign at the end of the school year. Diana Davis, principal at Paw Paw High School, is scheduled to be interviewed Tuesday. Davis, 53, is in her fourth-year as principal at the 670-student high school. Sharon Hiller, director of curriculum and educational services at Richmond Community Schools in Richmond, Mich., will also interviewed Tuesday. Hiller, 53, has been at Richmond Community Schools since 2002. She has a doctorate in general administration from Wayne State University. Daniel Bauer is an elementary school principal at Farwell Area Schools in Farwell Mich., in Clare County. Bauer will be interviewed Thursday. Bauer, 41, has been principal at Farwell Elementary for a year. Prior to that he served as an assistant principal and special education coordinator for the district. James McCoy, the only candidate not from Indiana or Michigan, will be interviewed Wednesday. McCoy, who holds a doctoral degree, is a high school principal in the Alpine School District in Orem, Utah. A second round of interviews has been scheduled for Feb. 21, 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m., also at Buchanan Middle School, Casey said. If need be, the school board will re-interview up to three finalists that week. The board plans to select a superintendent at its March 7 meeting. Casey, 62, has been superintendent of the 1,765-student school district for 13 years. He earns about $99,800 a year. The new superintendent will be paid a minimum of $99,000 a year, said Casey. Staff writer Carol Draeger: cdraeger@sbtinfo.com (269) 687-7005